Burundian Army authorities say ten Burundian peacekeepers have been killed in a ferocious attack by Al-Shabaab jihadists on an African Union base in Somalia.
In a statement on Wednesday it said twenty-five soldiers were also wounded in Tuesday’s assault on the camp in central Somalia and five are still missing while 20 Al-Shabaab militants were killed.
It was the first such strike on a peacekeeping base since the AU Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) replaced the previous AMISOM force on April 1.
AU forces sent in helicopter gunships after the pre-dawn attack on the camp housing Burundian troops near Ceel Baraf, a village some 160 kilometres northeast of the capital Mogadishu, according to military officials and witnesses.
A high-ranking Burundian military officer said 400 Islamist fighters stormed the base, forcing the soldiers to retreat to a nearby hillside where they continued to fight, supported by drones and helicopters.
Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had taken control of the camp and that 173 soldiers had been killed. Its claims could not be independently verified.
The Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants have been waging a deadly insurgency against Somalia’s fragile central government for more than a decade.
Somalia’s government condemned the “heinous” attack and appealed to the international community to do more to support Somali forces and ATMIS “in effectively combatting terrorism.”
AU Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat said on Twitter he spoke to Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye to pay his respects for the “sacrifice” of the peacekeepers who lost their lives.
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